1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the cargo restraint art and more particularly to a latch arrangement for restraining the horizontal and vertical movement of cargo in vehicles such as aircraft, trucks, railroad freight cars and the like.
In the above mentioned transportation of cargo by various vehicles such as cargo aircraft, vehicular trucks, railroad freight cars and the like it is often necessary to restrain the cargo from undesired movement during the transportation. In many applications, flexible cargo straps secured to the structure of the vehicle and wrapped around the cargo with the ends of the straps secured together have heretofore been utilized. Such flexible straps have not always been successful in restraining variously configured cargos against all undesired movements.
In other applications, mechanical devices have been utilized for cargo restraint in vehicles, such as cargo loads mounted on pallets. The restraints for such pallet type mounted cargo have proven to be satisfactory, but in many transportation vehicles special tracks, generally of a pre-designated configuration, are provided as mounted on or embedded in the load bearing surfaces such as the deck, side walls, bulkheads and even on the roofs of the cargo carrying vehicle and the cargo load is positioned over the tracks. Since the cargo loads may be in a regular, such as rectangular configuration as well as an irregular configuration, there have often been applications where cargo restraints are required to be in contact with the load both in an aligned array as well as a non-aligned array. In some prior restraint devices heretofore proposed for use with restraining cargo in vehicles equipped with known track configurations, the restraint devices were difficult to mount on or in connection with the track as well as remove from the track. Further, in such devices when the device was idle in the track and not in use for restraining the cargo, the devices would have some relative movement with respect to the track and/or the surface supporting the track. Such relative movement often created rattling type noises in the transportation vehicle as well as possible undue wear or breakage of the device or damage to the vehicle structure or track.
Thus, it has long been desired to provide a cargo restraint that can provide restraint for any configuration of a cargo mounted in a transportation vehicle in which standardized tracks are mounted on one or more of the cargo supporting structural surfaces of the vehicle. It has also been long desired to have such restraints that easily installed into and removable from the tracks. It is yet additionally desired that the restraints provide secure restraint of the cargo against undesired movement in any direction depending on the location of the tracks on decks, walls, bulkheads or roofs during transportation. It is even further desired that such restraints may be left in the tracks when not restraining cargo and will not rattle or have undesired relative movement to the track or cargo bearing surface so that there is no rattling of the restraints in order to minimize wear and tear as well as eliminate undesired noise.